The
Royal Canadian Navy
(RCN) (French:
Marine royale canadienne), formerly
Maritime Command
(MARCOM), is the
naval force
of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the unified Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2012[update]
Canada's navy operates 15 surface combatants (3 destroyers and 12 frigates), 4 patrol submarines, one support ship, 12 coastal mine countermeasures ships and 11 unarmed patrol/training vessels, as well as several auxiliary vessels. The Royal Canadian Navy consists of 8,500 Regular Force
and 5,100 Primary Reserve
sailors, supported by 5,300 civilians.[a 1]
Vice-Admiral Mark Norman
is the current Commander of the Royal Canadian Navy
and Chief of the Naval Staff.[a 2]

Established following the introduction of the
Naval Service Bill
by then Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the Naval Service of Canada (NSC) was intended as a distinct naval force for the
Dominion, that, should the need arise, could be placed under
British
control. The bill received royal assent on 4 May 1910. Initially equipped with two former Royal Navy
vessels, HMCS
Niobe
and HMCS
Rainbow, the service was renamed Royal Canadian Navy by King
George V
on 29 August 1911.[2]

During the first years of the
First World War, the RCN's six-vessel naval force patrolled both the North American West and East coasts to deter the German naval threat, with a seventh ship,
HMCS
Shearwater
joining the force in 1915. Just before the end of the war in 1918, the Royal Canadian Naval Air Service
was established with the purpose of carrying out anti-submarine operations; however, it was disbanded after the armistice of 11 November.[3]

After the war, the Royal Canadian Navy took over certain responsibilities of the
Department of Transport's Marine Service, and slowly started to build its fleet, with the first warships specifically designed for the RCN being commissioned in 1932.[4]
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the Navy had 11 combat vessels, 145 officers and 1,674 men.[5]
During the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy expanded significantly, ultimately gaining responsibility for the entire Northwest Atlantic theatre of war. By the end of the war, the RCN had become the fifth-largest allied navy in the world after the United States Navy
and the Royal Navy, as well as the Empire of Japan (Imperial Japanese Navy) and the USSR (Soviet Navy) with over 300 vessels. During the
Battle of the Atlantic, the RCN sank 31
U-boats
and sank or captured 42 enemy surface vessels, while successfully completing 25,343 merchant crossings. The Navy lost 24 ships and 1,797 sailors in the war.[6]

From 1950 to 1955, during the
Korean War, Canadian destroyers maintained a presence off the Korean peninsula, engaged in shore bombardments and maritime interdiction. During the Cold War, the navy developed an anti-submarine capability to counter the growing
Soviet
naval threat.[8][9]
In the 1960s, the Royal Canadian Navy retired most of its Second World War vessels, and further developed its anti-submarine warfare capabilities by acquiring the Sikorsky CH-124 Sea King, pioneering the use of large maritime helicopters on small surface vessels. At that time, Canada was also operating an aircraft carrier,
HMCS
Bonaventure, operating the
McDonnell F2H Banshee
fighter jet until 1962, as well as various other anti-submarine aircraft.[3]

In 1968, under the
Liberal
government of Lester B. Pearson, the Royal Canadian Navy,
Royal Canadian Air Force
and Canadian Army
were amalgamated to form the unified Canadian Forces. This process was overseen by then Defence Minister
Paul Hellyer. The controversial merger resulted in the abolition of the Royal Canadian Navy as a separate legal entity. All personnel, ships, and aircraft became part of Maritime Command (MARCOM), an element of the Canadian Armed Forces. The traditional naval uniform was eliminated and all naval personnel were required to wear the new Canadian Armed Forces rifle green uniform, worn also by former Royal Canadian Air Force and Canadian Army personnel. Ship-borne aircraft continued to be under MARCOM command, while shore-based patrol aircraft of the former Royal Canadian Air Force were transferred to MARCOM. In 1975 Air Command was formed and all maritime aircraft were transferred to Air Command's Maritime Air Group. The
unification of the Canadian Forces
in 1968 was the first time that a nation with a modern military combined its formerly separate naval, land and air elements into a single service.

Comprising 15 warships and several auxiliary vessels homeported in Esquimalt, the Pacific Fleet is responsible for Canada' Exclusive Economic Zone on the West Coast and Canada's Area of Responsibility in the
Pacific Ocean
and the western Arctic Ocean. Fleet Naval Facility Cape Breton provides repair and maintenance services to the Pacific Fleet. The Royal Canadian Air Force's 443 Maritime Helicopter Squadron, based at
Patricia Bay Heliport
but under the control of 12 Wing Shearwater, provides shipborne helicopter support for the Pacific Fleet, while 19 Wing Comox
provides fixed wing maritime air support for MARPAC through 407 Long Range Patrol Squadron.

The
Naval Reserve Headquarters
(NAVRESHQ), located at the Pointe-a-Carcy Naval Complex in Quebec City, is responsible for twenty four Naval Reserve Divisions across the country. The base is also home to Canadian Forces Fleet School Quebec and HMCS
Montcalm. The Naval Reserve is composed of 4,000 reservists.[a 5]

The Navy operates 13 warships, 1 support tanker, a dozen minesweepers, eight patrol-trainers and 4 submarines. The surface ships, which carry the designation
Her Majesty's Canadian Ship
(HMCS), consist of one Iroquois
class
guided-missile destroyer, twelve Halifax
class
multi-role patrol frigates, and 12 Kingston
class
coastal defence vessels. In addition to the surface vessels, the RCN owns four Victoria
class submarines
that were acquired from the Royal Navy
in 1998. These warships carry the designation Her Majesty's Canadian Submarine. The Royal Canadian Navy also maintains and operates
HMCS
Oriole, a historic sailing ship commissioned in 1952 as a sail training ship.
Oriole
is the oldest commissioned ship in the RCN and carries the royal designation and the battle honour Dunkirk, 1940.

On September 19, 2014, the Navy announced it would be decommissioning its two resupply ships (HMCS
Protecteur
and HMCS Preserver), along with two destroyers (HMCS
Algonquin
and HMCS Iroquois). This leaves the Navy with a single destroyer - HMCS
Athabaskan.
[10]

The RCN operates auxiliary vessels to support the Canadian Forces. These vessels are not warships and do not carry the HMCS designation. Among the auxiliary ships operated by the Navy are eight
Orca-class
patrol class training tenders, five Ville class
harbour tugs, five Glen-class
harbour tugs, and two fireboats of the Fire
class.

Under the administration of Stephen Harper many projects have been announced to modernize the Canadian Navy, but as of April 2013 no contracts have been signed.

The
Queenston-class
Joint Support Ship Project
is a program to replace the current Protecteur-class
replenishment vessels with two to three new joint support ships, providing support to naval task forces, a limited sealift capability and limited theatre command and control.[a 6]
The JSS project dates back to 2002–2003 and plans were advanced enough at the time to begin construction, though with the change in government in 2006 that project was cancelled and replaced with a less capable and smaller planned acquisition. The RCN has decided to place an order for 2–3 Berlin-class
Replenishment ships under JSS, replacing the two Protecteur-class AORs. The ships will be built by Seaspan Marine Corporation at the Vancouver Shipyards facility located in North Vancouver, British Columbia. These Berlin class ships will displace approximately 22,250 tonnes in Canadian service.[11]
The two ships currently being built are to be named for battles of the War of 1812. HMCS Queenston
is the lead ship, followed by HMCS Châteauguay.[12][13]

Related to the JSS Project is the nascent
Amphibious Assault Ship Project
which had seen senior members of the Canadian Forces and DND discuss purchasing one to two amphibious assault ships or helicopter carriers for transporting and landing an assault force of up to 1,000 soldiers. Another project that grew from the experience of Canadian Forces' international peacekeeping deployments, this project is currently categorized as 'potentially viable' though a foreign shipyard would be required to do the work.

The
Arctic Patrol Ship Project, announced in 2007, is a program to build six to eight Arctic patrol ships capable of operating with
polar class
5 (PC-5) and to establish the Nanisivik Naval Facility, a deep water port in
Arctic Bay,
Baffin Island,
Nunavut
that would support RCN operations in the Northwest Passage
and adjacent waters.[a 7]
The project is currently under the design phase. In September 2014, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the name of the first ship in the class would be Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Harry DeWolf, named in honour of wartime Canadian naval hero
Harry DeWolf, and that the class would be named the
Harry DeWolf
class.[14]

The Maritime Helicopter Project is an RCAF procurement project that will replace the 41
CH-124 Sea Kings
with 28 CH-148 Cyclone
shipborne anti-submarine warfare helicopters that will operate from RCN warships.[a 9]
This project has been delayed by several years by the manufacturer, Sikorsky. So far one helicopter has been delivered.

A CBC News report speculated that the RCN is considering the purchase of
nuclear-powered submarines
capable of extended under-ice operations as a replacement for the diesel-electric powered Victoria-class submarine
fleet at the end of their life cycle about 2040. It should be noted that no agenda for this project has been tabled publicly by the federal government.[15]
This project is similar to a proposal in the 1987 White Paper that also advocated nuclear submarines, though nothing came of it.

Non-commissioned members of the Royal Canadian Navy have pay grades ranging from OR-2 to OR-9. OR-9 (chief petty officer 1st class), OR-8 (chief petty officers 2nd class) and OR-7 (petty officer 1st class) are known as
petty officers, and together with OR-6 (petty officer 2nd class, referred to as senior non-commissioned officer) form the senior cadre of the
non-commissioned (enlisted) members
of the military. OR-5 (master seaman) and OR-4 (leading seaman) are referred to as junior non-commissioned officers, while OR-3 (able seaman) and OR-2 (ordinary seaman) are referred to as junior ranks.

The Queen's or King's Ceremonial colours (also referred to as the
Sovereign's Colour) for the navy have been consecrated and presented four times: in 1939 by
King George VI
in Esquimalt, BC, in 1959 by
Queen Elizabeth II
and Prince Phillip
in Halifax, NS, in 1979 by the
Queen Mother
in Halifax, NS
and in 2009 by the Governor General of Canada
and Commander-in-Chief Michaëlle Jean
in Halifax, NS.[17]
On each occasion two identical colours were presented, one for the Atlantic fleet and one for the Pacific fleet. The current colours consist of a ceremonial standard
with the Maple Leaf flag in the top left canton, the monarch's
royal cypher
for Canada (a capital E on a blue background, surrounded by a circlet of gold Tudor roses and laurels, surmounted by a crown) and an anchor (from the Royal Canadian Navy's naval jack) on the lower right fly. These elements are found on the 1979 and 2009 colours. The colours from 1959 and 1939 consisted of a
Royal Navy
white ensign with the Queen's or King's cipher in the middle.[17]

The use of the service colours of the
Royal Navy
were granted to the RCN in 1925. Two service colours were sent to Halifax and Esquimalt. In 1937 they were retired, and new colours sent. The official presentation of the King's Colour was not completed until 1939.[17]
The Royal Canadian Navy's retired colours are laid up at Beechwood Cemetery
in Ottawa, Ontario.[17]

A commemorative plaque in SS Point Pleasant Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia unveilled in 1967, "When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany in 1914, Canada and Newfoundland's participation was virtually unquestioned. With the onset of the Second World War in 1939 Canadians and Newfoundlanders once more rushed to enlist and were a major factor in the Allied victories in both conflicts. During two world wars the main duty of the Royal Canadian Navy was to escort convoys in the Atlantic and guard merchant vessels against the threat of attack by German submarines. In the Second World War, it also escorted ships in the Mediterranean and to Russia and supported the Allied landings in Sicilian, Italian and Normandy campaigns as well as in the Pacific. The Canadian Merchant Navy's duties included the transportation of troops and supplies to the Allied armies and food for the United Kingdom, extremely dangerous work which resulted in considerable losses."

at the
Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "In memory of 2200 known Canadian Merchant Seamen and 91 Canadian vessels lost by enemy action and those who served in the cause of freedom – World War I 1914–1918; World War II 1939–1945; Korean Conflict 1950–1953"